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Force required to snap open the frizzen.

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Don't worry too much about your weld annealing the area round the cam.If your using TIG the time you are on will be sunk away by the bulk and annealing the area round the pivot hole can't do any harm. If you want,wrap the area with copper wire as a heat sink. Never tried the potato trick. The spring on the RHS with the roller is actually welded on the upper arm. Used it for along time as it was on one of my own guns. I keep it as a spare. I make the rollers from Silver Steel as I can buy rod in all sorts of sizes.Heat to Cherry Red and quech in Transmission fluid.I don't temper these..

OLD DOG..
 
A frizzen that pops open soon will not allow steel to be cut. The rock does nothing at all but make steel shear with red heat. You need to resist the hammer throw. Main springs are strong to cut steel so it does no good to weaken them. I have made main springs and frizzen springs by hand and it is a pain to get right. You need to cut steel before the frizzen pops open.
 
Good work with the spring.Don't worry too much about annealing the hammer(frizzen).The amount of heat your going to put into that Spur building it up with TIG won't hurt,in fact a little annealing around the pivot hole may save it cracking up later.Rather than using SS to build up the spur, find a small coil spring, heat it and while it's still red put it over a nail in the vise and drag it out straight. Nice length of carbon steel filler rod.In the words of the Tellie MEER CAT--SIMPLE !! You shouldn't need to re-harden it. If you haven't spent too long welding the cooling of the mass should take care of that.If you are worried ,make a heatsink
by wrapping copper wire round it. Make sure you have a build up of Argon around the area by putting a wall of some round it..
Th spring on the bottom RHS is welded and was used for some time on one of my Fun Guns.Still carry as a spare. Plasma has saved me hours of complete remake..

OLD DOG
 
Good work with the spring.Don't worry too much about annealing the hammer(frizzen).The amount of heat your going to put into that Spur building it up with TIG won't hurt,in fact a little annealing around the pivot hole may save it cracking up later.Rather than using SS to build up the spur, find a small coil spring, heat it and while it's still red put it over a nail in the vise and drag it out straight. Nice length of carbon steel filler rod.In the words of the Tellie MEER CAT--SIMPLE !! You shouldn't need to re-harden it. If you haven't spent too long welding the cooling of the mass should take care of that.If you are worried ,make a heatsink
by wrapping copper wire round it. Make sure you have a build up of Argon around the area by putting a wall of some round it..
Th spring on the bottom RHS is welded and was used for some time on one of my Fun Guns.Still carry as a spare. Plasma has saved me hours of complete remake..

OLD DOG

I ended up tig brazing with a silicone bronze rod. The color is not ideal, but I'll find some method to blacken it. The important thing is that the pan closes well now and I've tried multiple dry shots (close to 10) and the flint survived. The only inconvenience was that I had to readjust it after 6-7 shots, but this is not unexpected I think.
 
Heat on hardened steel is tricky. I make my own transfer bars for Ruger's and BFR's if too short so I can get light triggers. I made one that did not fit the trigger correctly so I annealed that place to file and it broke when fired. I should have hardened and tempered again. Done right and my SBH bar has been through 97,000 shots. Do not heat a part of a spring without a full treatment again.
 
Heat on hardened steel is tricky. I make my own transfer bars for Ruger's and BFR's if too short so I can get light triggers. I made one that did not fit the trigger correctly so I annealed that place to file and it broke when fired. I should have hardened and tempered again. Done right and my SBH bar has been through 97,000 shots. Do not heat a part of a spring without a full treatment again.

I think some steels are better at withstanding such thermal stress than others. The way I managed to prevent the frizzen from getting to hot was to heat only the heel for only few seconds at a time. Wait for the whole item to cool completely and do it again.

I put the frizzen in a vice face down with the heel sticking up. I had to get the heel orange hot before the bronze filler would start to flow nicely. After depositing a bit of the rod I quickly released the vice (it wasn't torqued hard to start with - only enough to ground the part and prevent it falling out) I grabbed the frizzen by the heel with long nose pliers and I put it in a wide plastic tub with a quarter of an inch of water face down. This way the face of the frizzen was submerged, but the heel was well away from the water so it could cool slowly. I had to wait and repeat this 3 times to get enough bronze on the heel. At no point the water boiled when I put the frizzen's face in it so I knew it is not getting too hot.

Currently it doesn't look ideal, but it works well. I'll improve the look by darkening that bronze by oxidising it with a torch. I just have to do some tests on a piece of filler rod.
20190830_162600.jpg
 
Ironoxide -

I have seen and suffered from this exact issue before. I need you to look at something to tell if the diagnosis I have in my mind is at play. If so, the fix is a lot less mechanical and involved than you might think:

Look along the area where the barrel and frizzen meet. Is there a smooth scuff on the barrel's finish right there? Ignore any shark gouges or marks that may have been caused by accidentally seating the flint too far over and catching the barrel. I'm talking about something that looks like longer term burnishing.

If that is the case, you have a situation where the lock inlet was cut too deep. When this happens - and it doesn't take much of an overcut, particularly if you really tighten down the lock screws - the frizzen will get pulled too tight to the barrel and actually rub on it, causing the noticeable difficulty in opening it (and the partial openings and broken flints you are witnessing).

To test this...

1) Check to ensure that the gun is not loaded.

2) Loosen the lock screw opposite the frizzen ever so slightly

3) Physically push the lock screws themselves to assure that the entire lock assembly and the frizzen itself is now assuredly away from the barrel a *tiny* bit. We're talking just a hint of daylight between the frizzen and the barrel - perhaps 1/64".

4) Manually cycle the frizzen with your hand and see if the resistance has diminished. If so, you've likely confirmed the issue.

5) To completely confirm the diagnosis, point the gun in a safe direction and test the entire striking sequence by cocking and discharging the lock.

If the lock sparks as it should, and you don't get the frizzen hangup/broken flint problem, you now know the cause. In minor cases, you can simply leave the lock screw just a little less cinched than you normally do and the gun will run fine. If the over-inletting is more significant, you'll want to get some thin cork and cut some small pieces to put along points where lock mates to the stock to create a small lift point and more assertively remedy the issue. Test a few points and when you find it, glue the cork in place.

Try this test and please let us know how it goes. Hopefully, it will get you rolling in the right direction.
 
Six-Gun, thanks for your advice. I had another look to check just in case I haven't missed something, but what you're describing isn't happening with this lock. The frizzen is moving freely. Before I altered the heel of the frizzen so it snaps away at the proper point when I moved the parts by hand slowly I found that the flint was binding slightly at the bottom of the frizzen's face. This is no longer an issue as the frizzen snaps away before the flint reaches that point in its travel in normal firing. I'm quite happy how the lock works now.
 
Copy that, and thanks for the response. I'm glad to hear that the function is there now and you're on the road to a lot of fun times!
 
Good job. Long ago I went through parts bins at the Log Cabin to build a lock since I had little money. 9 times out of 10, a mainspring or frizzen spring would break and is how I was known as the zip gun hunter when I used rubber bands for power. :p
No more springs to fit so I had to make my own. I used oil hardening tool steel and quenched in transmission fluid. Back then they said to dent a can bottom and fill with motor oil, put the part in and set it on fire and when burned off, you have a spring but it never worked good.
I found to set my lead pot at 600 degrees, drop the spring in and let it soak an hour, fish it out and set on the pot edge, pull the plug and let cool slow. 50 years and the springs still work.
I never tried to bend with heat, I cut to shape and removed all scratches and edges to a polish.
A frizzen should spark at first contact and the gun should have fired before the frizzen is popped all the way open. Too fast to see of course but flint scratches full length mean little. Timing is everything. First contact should expose the pan powder. The reason for the hump.
But you did good and even braze will last a long time. Just keep the frizzen face cool.
 
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